Recipe for a tender cookie dough, ready in 2 minutes, for cookies, mini tart shells or jam baskets. It can be stored in the refrigerator for many days, or even frozen.
Ingredient:
• 450 g all purpose flour
• 150 g sugar
• 200 g butter with at least 80% fat, slightly soft
• 100 g lard
• 3-4 g salt
• 50 ml of orange juice or an egg
• 2 ml vanilla flavor and 2 ml orange flavor
In a bowl we put flour and in it we add: sugar, salt, butter, lard, flavors and orange juice to bind the composition. I use orange juice because it seems to me that this dough needs some acid to balance the fat in the composition. If you do not have orange juice at hand, you can use another sour fruit juice or even white wine. If you do not have these options you can use an egg.
Mix everything, just until the dough gathers into a ball and is homogeneous, which takes about a minute. Do not try to knead too much, to distribute all the fat well. For such doughs it is contraindicated to work the dough a lot because it heats up and softens excessively.
And that's the whole recipe. Put it in a tightly closed plastic bag, and keep it in the fridge for a week, or freeze it. When you need it, take it out and you can prepare all kinds of cookies and mini tart shells from it.
But I'll show you how to make small tart baskets.
First we preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit), heat up and down plus fan.
Here is the best technique for spreading such soft dough. Dampen the table with a damp cloth. Put 2 large pieces of foil glued, put the lightly reframed shell in the middle (to regain some elasticity). Cover with another plastic wrap and spread in a 3-4 mm thick sheet. This way it stretches perfectly, without sticking to the table and the twister. If you remember, I also used this technique in the Snow White cake recipe. I will link to this recipe at the end.
We cut with a cutter for flower-shaped cookies. The cutter is very cheap. I paid about 10 lei for a whole set of such cutters from the market. It can be cut without a pattern, with a small mouth glass.
To give shape to the baskets, we need a support. I use mini savarine forms. These are simple sheet metal shapes. I also bought them from the market at a price of about 2 lei per piece. Or if I want deeper baskets I use the back of a grandmother's shape.
In the shapes of the savarina I arrange the cut dough so that it takes the shape of a basket. Put them in the freezer for 15 minutes, then push the base of the baskets with a fork so that they don't grow too much, then put them in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until they are slightly golden. The middle always comes out whiter and a little softer, but that doesn't mean it's not baked. After cooling it will harden.
Also after cooling we can detach them from the shapes. Pull the edges of the shape a little to widen it, and then take out the basket. These small baskets can be stored for a long time in an airtight box, as they are, unfilled. Up to two weeks I say.
When you want to serve them, you can fill them with jam and arrange them on a plate.
The larger baskets are baked on the back of the savarine form. For this variant it is very important to stretch the thicker shell, otherwise they may break.
Let cool for 15 minutes, then bake in the same way. That's how it looks cooked.
They can be filled with fruit and vanilla cream. However, after filling them, they do not last more than a day, maximum two.
And of course all the leftovers of the cutouts are kneaded, and cookies can be made. Shape the dough into salami, refrigerate or freeze, and when you want to bake, cut into slices, place in a tray lined with baking paper, decorated with granules of vanilla sugar, and bake in the same way.
Great appetite!
16 дек 2021
